


Whirlpool and Shadow

by Doevademe (OriginalDaemon)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Inspired by Miraculous Ladybug, M/M, double pining Love-square, eventually, may have more
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 19:30:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7858207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OriginalDaemon/pseuds/Doevademe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Percy Jackson is a special kind of hero. The "super" kind. However, even heroes need help sometimes, even those who can control water and cause Earthquakes.</p><p>And that's when Shadow comes in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Whirlpool and Shadow

**Author's Note:**

> For day 7 of “To állo mou misó”: Superhero. This is actually a story idea I've had for a while. It could become a series, it could not. I left a few plot points open for that.

Being a hero is hard work.

It may look like it’s mostly being awesome, patrolling the city, using your superpowers to defeat bad guys and monsters, and being lavished in gifts and gratitude.

But it was more than that. Patrolling meant cutting on sleep your civilian self could use when you have a test the next day. The monster you’re fighting could seriously harm someone. The villain could realize who or what you held dear and use it against you. You simply have no freedom.

But Percy still does it, because no one else can do what he does.

Manipulating water, a sword that can cut down monsters, making the earth itself shake… his abilities were well balanced and he managed to save as many people as he could every single time.

So how come he was currently trapped by half a dozen Scythian Dracanae, tied up instead of using his powers to escape?

Because he had been with his friends and caught off guard. Now they were by his side, also tied up, and probably waiting for Whirlpool to appear and make a heroic rescue. Percy _kind of_ doubted that would happen, taking into account the fact that he was Whirlpool.

The monsters seemed to want to use them as bait, though, so he could at least begin thinking of a plan to get his friends to safety.

“He’ssss not ssshowing up!” One of them complained as she looked hungrily at Annabeth. “Maybe if we kill one of them—”

“Sssilence!” The one who seemed to be the leader said. Percy made note of that, wondering if he could play at their egos. “Regardlesss, we need to keep all of them alive until the Commander comesss.”

And that plan was dead. The Snake women all cowered at the mention of their superior, he didn’t think he’d be able to trick them that way.

Didn’t mean Annabeth wouldn’t try.

“What a bunch of idiots, right Percy? Don’t they realize we’ll be better bait on plain sight?” She commented loudly. Percy looked at her, relieved, while Leo and Jason seemed to wonder if she had gone mad.

“Yeah, I mean, if I was a monster baiting a Hero, I’d put the civilians in plain sight, too,” Percy said as convincingly as he could. The Dracanae looked at each other, unsure.

The one in charge, however just glared at them.

“I’m sssure the commander won’t mind you eating one of them,” she hissed. The Dracanae neared Percy with a grotesque smile.

Crap.

However, before even one of them got close, two of them turned into dust before his eyes. The shock seemed to stun their surviving companions.

“Whirlpool!” The head Dracaena turned around, pulling out what looked to be a Taser.

Okay, seriously, what kind of weapon against him is a Taser? Just because he had the Gift of Poseidon didn’t mean electricity was his weakness. Did the Dracanae or their commander think he was a Pokémon or something?

If he wasn’t trying to lay low, they would be so dead right now.

“Sorry, I’m afraid you got the wrong guy,” a dark voice said before a blade appeared on her stomach. The thing hissed in outrage before disintegrating, leaving a hooded, sword-wielding figure behind her. “Don’t move!”

And just like that, the man dissolved into the darkness and impaled another Dracaena. The remaining two tried to escape, but the guy tossed a couple of knives, killing them instantly.

Percy hated to admit it, but that was kinda hot.

The man took his knives from the piles of dust and approached them, freeing Jason, Leo and Annabeth first.

His hood fell backwards as he worked on his bindings, revealing a face literally masked in shadows. The only features he could make out were his high cheekbones and the dark, _dark_ brown eyes.

As soon as he was freed, the guy offered his hand to Percy. The moment he touched it, he felt a sort of energy blast running through his hand towards his chest.

His savior must have felt it too, judging from how he flinched and jumped back, looking at his hand worriedly.

Percy didn’t know if that was the usual reaction when meeting someone else with the Gift, but he decided to just smile in the most harmless way he could. The guy looked at him for a few more seconds, before tentatively returning the smile. It seemed he didn’t suspect he was like him.

“So you aren’t Whirlpool,” Leo said, breaking the atmosphere. “So who are you? Goth Boy?”

The guy scoffed and stood up, raising his hoodie again.

“You can call me Shadow,” was all he said. The darkness began licking at his form slowly covering him. Before he disappeared completely, however, he glanced at Percy briefly.

Correction, Percy wasn’t ashamed to admit, it was _really_ hot.

* * *

“It was amazing!” Percy gushed as he and the others told their remaining friends what had happened the night before.

“The guy’s a creep. I kinda prefer Whirlpool,” Leo said, shrugging. Percy was torn between glaring at him and grinning at having his ego stroked.

Not that any of his friends but Annabeth knew who Whirlpool was.

“You can’t really choose who saves you, Leo,” Piper joked. “The guy seems like a Vigilante type, anyways. You know, the type who has some hidden agenda for saving you.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Hazel said as she and her brother joined them at their table. She sat beside Frank, leaving Nico to awkwardly shuffle towards the seat on Annabeth’s right.

“Hey, Hazel, Nico,” Percy greeted. Nico muttered something and looked away. Percy sighed, nothing he did seemed to make the kid like him. “We were just talking about how we were saved last night.”

“Oh, you finally met Whirlpool?” She asked, interested. It had become kind of a joke amongst their group of friends how Percy was the only one of them not to have been saved by him (Not true, Nico hadn’t needed saving from monsters yet, so he was in the same camp as him).

“He wishes,” Annabeth laughed as she patted his shoulder. “It was this vigilante guy, Shadow.”

“Vigilante?” Nico said, frowning. It was weird to hear him talk when not directly spoken to. Hazel looked worried.

“He’s not a vigilante!” Percy said, scoffing. Both to calm down the siblings and because he truly believed it. Nico looked at him, eyes widened. “I’m sure he’s a hero, just like Whirlpool.”

“Maybe…” Hazel said, seemingly uncomfortable. “I mean, this guy can come back anytime there’s monsters and such, right? I’m sure we’ll know soon enough.”

“He’s a hero,” Percy insisted. “I’m sure he goes around, patrolling like Whirlpool does. Just, you know, better hidden.”

“Well, will you at least tell me and Nico how you got in trouble in the first place?” Hazel said with a smile.

Percy grinned as he, once again, began to talk about how their plan to play video games at Jason’s had turned into, as far as their friends know, Percy’s first encounter with monsters.

* * *

“He has to be around, Annabeth, he _has_ to,” Percy said as he tied his blue mask around his head.

The Whirlpool costume was not very complex, just a domino mask and a bandana covering his eyes and hair, with a blue shirt that had been custom made by his mom and tights Annabeth had managed to snatch from the Dancing Academy she had a part-time job at.

Said girl was now rolling her eyes at him. She had been trying to dissuade him from going to find Shadow for the past 10 minutes.

“And what will you do once you find him, Seaweed Brain? Just go and say ‘Hey, I noticed that you also have the blessing of a Greek god and I have the biggest mancrush on you, want to partner up?’”

“I just… I can’t explain it, but when I touched him… it felt right,” Percy tried to tangle his fingers in his hair in exasperation, only to be reminded of his bandana. “It was like my powers themselves wanted me to be near him. I need to find him.”

“…You got it bad,” was all she said before smiling. “Just be careful, Okay?”

“I always am,” he was out the window and jumping through rooftops before Annabeth could counter his claim.

Yes, he was reckless when it came to monster fighting (not so much with burglars, though… bullet wounds were not as easy to heal), but if getting hurt meant saving someone, he didn’t see why it was such a bad thing.

That was maybe another reason why he needed Shadow. The young man had appeared methodic, strategic and almost clinical when fighting the Dracanae. That was what Percy needed. Whirlpool needed someone to balance him out.

…Maybe Annabeth was right. He was in too deep for this mysterious stranger…

His instincts were suddenly on alert. He felt something calling out to him, the energy he felt the night before. He followed his gut until he was on Central Park’s edge.

There, hunched on top of one of the buildings, was a familiar hooded figure.

“You know, brooding on top of a building doesn’t exactly scream ‘approachable’,” Whirlpool joked, touching his shoulder lightly.

Nothing. The shock he felt the day before wasn’t there.

“Was stand-up the reason you didn’t show up when some Dracanae attacked a bunch of kids near the 31st?” Shadow said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “It wasn’t worth it.”

“You can’t be everywhere at once,” he defended himself. This wasn’t going the way he wanted to.

“They almost _died_ ,” Shadow insisted, stubborn. “I’ve only been on the job a couple of nights, what could be so important that you couldn’t be there?”

“There are many ways to save people,” Whirlpool said, evasive. “Sometimes you have to stop a storm from flooding the coast, make sure thieves don’t get away from the police… monster hunting is not all we can do.”

“It’s why we are this way, though,” Shadow seemed tired enough to not keep pressing, instead just hugging his knees. “You know why I knew they were in danger? The Gift of Hades allows me to feel those near death… if they are being attacked by monsters. We’re not heroes, we’re tools. The gods’ chosen monster slayers.”

“It’s not all we have to be,” Percy shrugged, sitting beside the other teen. “If we have these powers, we can do much more than what the gods expect of us.”

“Have you met them?” Shadow asked, curious.

“No,” Whirlpool looked towards the skyline behind him. “I know Olympus is somewhere around here, though. It’s why so many monsters spawn here.”

“There’s also an entrance to the Underworld here,” Shadow pointed in the park’s general direction. “No luck from my side finding it, either.”

“Then that’s what we should do from now on, right? Find Olympus, find that entrance, and protect as many people as we can from them,” Whirlpool put an arm around Shadow’s shoulders. “And I believe we can cover more ground if we’re together.”

“So the rumors were true,” Shadow chuckled as he finally turned to look at him. “Whirlpool is a charmer and a goody two-shoes.”

“And you’re not?”

“I want to be… that’s why we are both wearing these stupid costumes, right?”

“Hey! I’ll have you know my shirt is one-of-a-kind, and these tights are surprisingly comfortable.” Whirlpool said without an ounce of shame, happy when he made Shadow laugh. “So, what do you say, want to be with me? …as a duo, I mean,” he amended quickly.

“I’m nobody’s sidekick. Besides, I prefer anonymity,” Shadow looked towards Central Park. “But… I wouldn’t be opposed to helping you out if you need me.”

Percy grinned and was about to untie his mask when he was met with a face full of Shadow’s hand.

“What are you doing?” He said, scandalized. “Our identities remain secret, got it?”

“How will we know how to get each other, then?” Whirlpool said with a pout. No, he did _not_ whine, Whirlpool _never_ whined. Shadow just sighed and tossed him a pouch that smelled like someone’s grandma. “What’s this?”

“A Hades charm, just think about me while holding it, I’ll know.” He stood up. “Oh, I just realized… Shadow. My name. So you know who to call.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Whirlpool said. Shadow just looked at him, confused. “I’m sure I won’t think of anybody else while holding this.”

He was sure that, under the shadows, the boy flushed, and pegged that as a victory.

“Just think of a way I can contact you back for the time being… we’ll meet here tomorrow, same time,” and just like that, he disappeared.

Percy fell on his back and grinned. He did it! Shadow was now his partner!

After talking to his fellow hero, Percy was sure, no matter who was under that hoodie, he was in love with Shadow.

* * *

Back at home, Nico took off his costume and allowed the shadows to leave his face. He lied on his bed and sighed as a knock was heard.

“Come in,” he said. Hazel opened the door and sat on his bed.

“How did it go?” She asked. His attempt at patrolling like Whirlpool did had been fruitful, if only for the wrong reasons.

“Whirlpool asked me to partner up” he mumbled against his pillow. “I said yes.”

“Well, that’s good, right? Whirlpool is a nice guy, you can learn from him.”

“I only got into this getup because Percy was in danger, I’m not cut out to be a hero!”

“You are. Percy thinks so, too,” Hazel said as she caressed his hair. “He liked you as Shadow.”

Nico allowed himself to imagine Percy smiling at him as he helped him up last night. The electric shock he felt when he touched him for the first time. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t a terrible idea…

“I’ll do it,” Nico said, sitting up. “Whirlpool can teach me the ropes. Percy will begin noticing Shadow as I do heroics, and when the time comes…” he blushed and looked down.

When the time comes, he’ll reveal himself and confess.

“Good luck,” Hazel encouraged. “Both as a hero, and with Percy.”

“Thanks, Hazel. I couldn’t do it without you.”

Being a hero would not be easy.

In a world with gods, monsters and crime, those who chose to be heroes had to give up too much.

But Nico would do it. To prove himself to Percy, and to protect those he loved.

And who knows? Working alongside Whirlpool might be something he could come to enjoy and look forward to.


End file.
